Williams sisters breeze through first round at U.S. Open

Venus and Serena Williams encountered little trouble as both scored straight-set wins Monday in the first round of the U.S. Open.

Serena Williams, seeded eighth, topped Germany's Angelique Kerber 6-3, 7-5. Her sister Venus, seeded 12th, downed Hungary's Kira Nagy 6-2, 6-1, with both matches being held at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Other winners during evening action included unseeded American Ahsha Rolle, who upset France's Tatiana Golovin, the 17th seed, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, and Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine, the 21st seed, who downed Argentina's Gisela Dulko 6-4, 6-3.

Justine Henin of Belgium and Serbia's Jelena Jankovic were among the early winners Monday.

The top-seeded Henin cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 victory over 18-year-old German Julia Goerges, while the third-seeded Jankovic notched a 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) triumph over Slovakia's Jarmila Gajdosova.

"There wasn't a lot of rhythm," said Henin of her match. "I just did a good job. Generally it's been positive. I didn't serve that well. I was a bit concerned the last few days with my shoulder. It's getting better, but still a little bit scary. But, no, I'm glad to win that way. Nothing special today."

Other winners on the first day of play at the USTA National Tennis Center included 10th-seeded Marion Bartoli of France, 15th-seeded Russian Dinara Safina, 19th-seeded Sybille Bammer of Austria and 20th-seeded Czech Lucie Safarova.

Bartoli eased past American Alexa Glatch, 6-1, 6-1, while Safina had little trouble in a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Colombia's Catalina Castano. Bammer posted a 6-4, 6-4 win against Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn, while Safarova was a 6-3, 6-2 winner against Australia's Jessica Moore.

Henin is trying to capture her second Grand Slam title of 2007 and her second U.S. open crown. She won the French Open in June as part of a six-victory season that also included a triumph at the U.S. Open tuneup in Toronto.

The six-time Grand Slam champ prevailed at Flushing Meadows in 2003 and last year lost in the title match against Maria Sharapova. Sharapova is seeded second this year and will open defense of her crown on Tuesday against Italy's Roberta Vinci.

Jankovic, meanwhile, was a semifinalist at the U.S. Open last year and is trying to capture that elusive first major crown. She has won four times in 2007 and was the runner-up to Henin at the Rogers Cup in Toronto earlier this month.